New house has orange counter tops help..?
Question:Ok the new house we are going to rent has old orange out dated counter tops. There has got to be some way to cover them up with out spending a million dollars to pay some one to do it. Do you have any ideas?
Answers:
This might be your best bet; a self rimmed plastic laminate countertop. Here is some info on it http://www.doityourself.com/stry/irpself...
Here is the Lowe's Project Center about it as well: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=ho...
However, new counter tops are not that expensive and not incredibly hard to replace if you or your husband are in any way handy. We replaced ours for less than $100. The man in the hardware store explained step by step how to do it and it wasn't that bad. You can also buy a sheet of formica for about $50 and just glue that over the orange. You would need the cutting tool for that though. That formica doesn't cut very easily. Stores like Lowes and Home Depot also give discounts if you find something with any damage. You could try to find something with a small corner chip or a small scratch maybe in an area you would need cut off anyway. Then just call the manager over and see what he will do to work with you. We are remodeling our whole house. It was a real fixer-upper but we got it cheap and were able to pay cash for it and 2 acres. Now we put the money that we save from not having a house payment into redoing it. We're by no means rich though and sometimes we only have a couple hundred dollars at a time so we have gotten many deals on slightly damaged things to make the house more presentable. They have given us as much as half off and most things can be hidden, removed or aren't noticeable. Good luck and have fun!
Oh my, I sympathize. I once covered old counter tops in contact paper (blue and white delft tile design). It works for a while, but is not permanent.
Check with Lowes or Home Depot and see if it's possible to put a finish of some sort on them--sponge paint and glaze or paint, stencil, and glaze, something like that.
And then some sort of finish that will take kitchen wear.
It might even be possible to tile over it with a strip to hide the hangover of the tops if there is one.
Maggie
I have bought contact paper that looked like marble. It's cheap and much better than ORANGE! ewww I feel your pain! :)
you have two options that will work.. You can buy Formica and contact cement and recover them. This may also require getting a router or other tool to trim the formica on the edges.
or
You can buy tile and recover them.. This will require buying tile nippers and a manual tile cutter machine, about $50-60 US at DIY store.
The only other option is removing and replacing them.. Regular paint wont stick (spray paint will but you will scuff it and it will look like junk in a few months..)
Hey, this is the second question I have seen from you, the other was the dark paneling.. I have to ask, why are you moving into such a nightmare? I hope it is either that you are getting are really good deal or because you have to.. If you are not skilled at remodeling and repair, this house sounds like a great place to learn, but that is also the down side due to the amount of time it will take to teach yourself.
You have my sympathy but you have a couple of options, depending on what kind of counter tops you have. Since you are renting the house, you can get those linoleum squares & cover the counter with them. You could try laying down ceramic tiles on top of a non-skid liner. Contact paper could work but you would be replacing it often. If the corners are not rounded, you can think about getting a laminate & tack it down with that double side tape. That way you won't have to worry about removing it when you move. Hope this helps.
My son's bathroom had a pretty nasty 1970s Formica counter and this is what I did 4 years ago ~ and it still looks like new ~ in a teenage boys bathroom!
I got some spray paint primer and some spray acrylic in glossy white. I taped off everything I didn't want paint on, the basin, wall, fixtures, etc. I cleaned and thoroughly dried the counter. I sprayed the primer and let it dry over night. I sprayed three coats of the white glossy, lightly so it was very even coats. If you didn't see the old counter top, it was brown with metallic gold and orange going through it, you would never, never know it was spray painted!
Personally, if the counter is in good condition, I'd go with it and come up with something different for decorating! But, then again, I like orange!
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